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9 Youth Violence & Juv. Just. 3 (2011)

handle is hein.journals/yvja9 and id is 1 raw text is: 




Articles

                                                                  Youth Violence and juvenile justice
                                                                  9(1) 3-22
                                                                  @ The Author(s) 2011
Ge         e       ie           c      i    MReprints and permission:
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Health         Problem         s  and     Violence                DOI: 10.1177/1541204010373902
                                                                  http://yvi.sagepub.corn
Among Chicago Youth                                               OSAGE




Jennifer   Wareham' and Denise Paquette Boots2



Abstract
The  role of gender is critical when examining how mental health problems affect delinquency over
the life course. This study explores gender and developmental pathways to violence for youth
participating in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods  (PHDCN).   Girls
having oppositional defiant problems (ODP) were significantly more likely to self-report violence
from  late childhood through early adolescence; however, only depressive problems mattered for
girls during late adolescence. For boys, antisocial personality problems during late adolescence
affected violence. Moderating effects of gender were limited to early and late adolescence. Implica-
tions regarding gendered  solutions when  developing strategies targeting youth violence are
discussed.


Keywords
developmental criminology, gender, mental health, PHDCN, violence

Gender  differences in the development of aggression, violence, and delinquent behavior are well
established in the literature (Moffitt & Caspi, 2001; Moffitt, Caspi, Rutter, & Silva, 2001). Overall,
boys tend to be substantially more involved in delinquent behavior than females and continue to rep-
resent the bulk of offenders, but increasing trends in certain types of offending among girls have
begun to concern scholars and practitioners. In particular, the proportion of girls arrested for com-
mitting violent crime index offenses increased from 10% to 18% between 1980 and 2003 and the
proportion of those arrested for committing property crime index offenses rose from 19% to 32%
over the same period (Snyder &  Sickmund, 2006). Snyder and  Sickmund  noted that for violent
crime-related arrests, this increasing trend among girls was almost entirely due to higher aggravated
assault rates. Furthermore, the proportion of girls arrested for simple assaults increased from 21% to
32%. These juvenile arrest trends cannot speak to the etiological causes of delinquency and should
not be used to suggest that girls are necessarily becoming more aggressive. What they do suggest,




Wayne  State University
2University of Texas at Dallas

Corresponding Author:
Jennifer Wareham, 3278 Faculty/Administration Building, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
Email: jwareham@wayne.edu

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